‘End of Watch’ Red Band Trailer: Everybody Wants to Kill LA Cops

Published 2 years ago
by
Sandy Schaefer
, Updated July 18th, 2013 at 9:38 am,

The red band trailer for End of Watch features Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as a couple of ordinary police officers working the mean streets of south central Los Angeles. Things get dangerous (even by the LAPD’s standards) when the duo bust some armed, drug-pushing thugs during a routine traffic stop – unaware they’ve just arrested members of a powerful cartel with a firm grip on the city’s criminal underbelly.

David Ayer’s film was the odd man out during Comic-Con 2012, competing for attention in a sea of comic book movies (Iron Man 3), fantasy blockbusters (The Hobbit), and the latest projects from geek-favorite filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim). End of Watch, by comparison, is a stripped-down cop drama-thriller frequently shot in a “fly on the wall” style associated more with Direct Cinema (a documentary sub-genre).

You get a taste of that in the red band trailer, with hand-held footage of Gyllenhaal and Peña on the job, night-cam shots of gangsters discussing their next move, and police car chases filmed from the front windshield’s POV. Sometimes End of Watch unfolds as a found-footage movie while, at other times, it’s almost experimental in design – such as, during a sequence where Gyllenhaal and Peña dash through a burning house (the actors had camera rigs attached to their bodies, as was discussed during the film’s Comic-Con panel).

End of Watch, in other words, is not for moviegoers who feel seasick after watching one of the Jason Bourne movies (or something like The Hunger Games), as there is a lot of up-close-and-personal cinematography here. Moreover, there’s a fair amount of raw, gruesome, violence and brutal imagery (see: the eye-stab wound from the trailer) that only accentuates the grisly shooting style.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña in 'End of Watch'

It’s not altogether clear whether Ayer’s approach to filming End of Watch will make the movie all the more enthralling – or just unwatchable (literally). However, it does boast a solid cast that includes Anna Kendrick (50/50), Cody Horn (Magic Mike), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), and Frank Grillo (The Grey). Similarly, there’s a strong sense of camaraderie between Gyllenhaal and Peña, judging by early footage of the two.

Ayer has scripts for such films as U-571, The Fast and the Furious, and Training Day under his belt; not to mention, he directed Street Kings, another crime drama-thriller. He’s moving ahead next with Breacher, a gritty mystery-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington (among others).